Celebrating 30 years of <i>Geosynthetics International</i>

This year marks 30 years since the first issue of Geosynthetics International was published. Much has happened since that time and I am delighted to share the history of the journal since its inception.The idea for the journal came from Dr. J.P. Giroud (past president of the International Geosynthetics Society – IGS) and Dr. Terry Ingold who believed that there was room for two high-quality peer-reviewed official journals of the IGS focused on geosynthetics. The other journal at that time was our sister journal Geotextiles and Geomembranes published by Elsevier, which continues to this day.J.P. and Terry reached out to the Industrial Fabrics Association International in Roseville, Minnesota, USA which agreed to be the publisher. Terry became the Editor, J.P. was appointed Chairman of the Editorial Board and I became the Representative of the IGS on the Editorial Board. J.P. created a document detailing every imaginable rule regarding the formatting of the journal including the correct choice of technical words to be used in the geosynthetics lexicon. I recall to this day the many times J.P. (a Frenchman by birth) and myself (a unilingual English Canadian) would spar over points of correct English grammar (J.P. was usually correct). I remember the flood of faxes from J.P. marked URGENT with each page carefully numbered. I am sure that many of our older readers remember this signature feature of their communications with the formidable J.P.J.P. and Tony gathered a team of 20 well-known experts from around the world to form the first Editorial Board. Five of these original members serve on the editorial board today (now comprising 48 members). The first issue was published in January 1994. I was delighted when J.P. asked me to contribute the lead paper in the collection of five technical papers in that first issue; these first papers are available on the Geosynthetics International web page, as are all papers since. Only two issues were published in 1994. Thereafter, the journal was published in six issues a year.Soon after, 19 corporate sponsors agreed to contribute to the cost of publishing, printing and shipping the journal which was in hardcopy format only.Ms. Karina Labinaz (McInnis) was appointed the Production Editor of the journal at its inception and served in this position until 2003. Karina did all of the paper copyediting of the papers at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.In 1996 I became Co-Editor of the journal with Tony Ingold.In the early 2000 s The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in the UK was looking to expand its suite of journals published by Thomas Telford Ltd (which included Géotechnique). The first issue of Geosynthetics International under the ICE banner was published in 2003 and it became one of the first solely electronic journals in the world. All of the copyediting of the papers was now done by ICE/Thomas Telford Ltd.Terry retired in 2007 and I became Editor.Year 2022 marked the next turning point for the journal. After 27 years of dedicated service, J.P. Giroud stepped down as Chairman of the Editorial Board and I was appointed Editor-in-Chief. J.P.’s advice on all matters related to the journal will not be forgotten.Up until this time, all paper management and assignment of reviewers was done by myself with the exception of guest editors of special issues. All communications were by email. In order to ease this burden and manage the increasing number of paper submissions, Dr. Ennio M. Palmeira and Dr. Patrick J. Fox were appointed Editors. The three of us now share the duties of managing the paper reviews and deciding the final disposition of all submissions. In this same year, ICE added Geosynthetics International to its ReView web portal for paper management. Now all communications with authors are through this portal, as are all behind the scenes paper management and processing.Last year, Emerald Publishing in the UK acquired most of the ICE publications including Geosynthetics International. Emerald Publishing is a well-establishing publishing house and their experience will help to raise the profile of the journal and reach more subscribers around the world. This transition has been transparent to our readership and many of the excellent ICE journal team have stayed with the journal ensuring consistency in support and quality of the journal product.Since its beginning in 1994, the journal has published more than 1600 articles and 13 special issues. A proud feature of the journal content has been the publication of the written version of the quadrennial Giroud lecture (the highest technical award of the IGS). The reputation of the journal as a premiere vehicle for the publication of technical papers on geosynthetics, their applications, and related technologies is recognized around the world. The high standards of the journal are reflected in the current paper acceptance rate of less than 30%.Since its beginning in 1994 Geosynthetics International has remained an official journal of the International Geosynthetics Society. All IGS members have online access to all papers in the journal as part of their membership.In closing, I thank all those who have contributed to the success of the journal including the authors, reviewers, the Editorial Board Members, and all those others mentioned in this article. I am confident that the journal will continue as a primary resource for researchers, students, manufacturers, practitioners and others in our geosynthetics community for many years to come.

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